Overweight students
April 10th, 2008 by 
Alica
Nearly one-third of Brandon Valley students at Brandon Elementary, Robert Bennis Elementary and Brandon Valley Middle School are considered overweight or obese. Yet, that’s a lower percentage than the state as a whole.
Does that mean the parents and schools in Brandon are doing a good job of feeding the kids balanced diets and making sure they get exercise? Or is there still a lot of room for improvement?
Brandon Valley requires one semester of physical education for graduation. That is the minimum required by state law. Sioux Falls School District recently reduced their requirement from three semesters down to one. Is one enough? If you don’t think so, take into consideration all the extracurricular opportunities Brandon Valley students have to keep fit. There are school and league sports, open gyms, recess and other programs. Even with all these opportunities, is it enough?
Who should have the main responsibility for keeping our children fit? The school system? The parents? The children themselves?
What have you done at your house to ensure healthy eating for your family. At our house, we make sure every meal includes a vegetable. One problem is that we don’t eat many meals at home. My husband and I both take vitamin supplements. I know it would be better to get our nutrients through food, though, instead of vitamin pills. At our house, we are making some effort, but there is room for improvement.
What are your thoughts?
Posted in Uncategorized, BV sports | 
April 10th, 2008 at 8:05 am
While I think that the schools have a responsibility to feed the kids good food and educate them on how to live a healthy life, the parents are primarily responsible. The food and the pop machines in the schools are not making kids fat. The schools only have these kids 7 hours per day. The parents have them the other 2/3 of the day plus weekends and all summer. I think if parents would make more of an effort to pry the game controller and the Twinkie from their kids’ hands and send them outside to play, we would have less of an obesity problem. It would be interesting to know how many of the obese children have obese parents. The parents need to set a good example for their kids. It all starts at home.
April 10th, 2008 at 8:31 am
It’s my job to keep my kids from being obese. Even if they are eating mac n cheese with hot dogs and ice cream during the day at school, with a balanced diet and plenty of excercise at home they will be fit and healthy. The problem I have with these studies is that they are usually based on a BMI index which doesn’t take into account bone or muscle density. For example, I’m about 6′ 4 and weigh aroud 260 and according to my BMI I’m obese but somehow I can compete in 5 & 10k races without suffering a heart attack???
April 10th, 2008 at 8:43 am
I agree with #2. I think there should be a different way to measure than just with BMI. I’m only 5′3″ and am working to lose weight. For a healthy BMI I should weigh at most, 141 pounds. After speaking with my doctor, though, we have decided that 161 pounds would be much healthier. That would mean my BMI says I’m overweight. I don’t think I look overweight because I have more muscle and carry the weight differently. Is there any other way the schools can keep track?
I also agree with #1. Parents have the primary responsiblity to make sure their kids eat healthy and get some activity. If the only workout a kid is getting is in gym class at school, then that’s the real reason for the obesity epidemic!
April 11th, 2008 at 6:24 am
I feel the school system should require some sort of physical activity everday. Even in High School, maybe not graded just a participation score.
The only way to keep the weight off is to exercise and eat right. Sometimes that is very hard to do!
I try to teach my kids this, but as they are almost adults, they don’t always listen. We have mostly healthy choices for food at home, but eat out alot.
April 11th, 2008 at 8:16 am
So far everyone has made good points. Parents need to stop using computers, TV’s, and console games as babysitters. all levels of schools do need to require some sort of Physical Education; I agree with #4 it should not be a letter or percentage grade. Just a pass or fail for not only showing up, but also participating in the event.
Maybe somebody could tell me what grade of meat our schools serve? At one time I seem to remember hearing the schools only have to serve a grade c meat, while our prisons have to serve grade a but I am not sure about that.
As for healthy eating, I get confused about this. Too me, it is easier to cook a healthy meal, than it is to cook an unhealthy meal. This could be due to the fact I don’t like foods out of a box. I always have beef, pork, chicken, and fish on hand. In the morning when I am getting ready for work, I take out something for supper and put it in the fridge. That way, when I get home from work, I can have it ready within 30 min. I also always have vegetables on hand. Fresh, frozen, or usually both, and eat steamed veggies all the time. Most of the time we throw a little shredded cheese over them, but it’s still better than any of the “healthy” meals you can get from a fast food place.
The great side effect of doing this is the next day at work when everyone is eating cafeteria food; I have a home cooked meal from leftovers.
April 11th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I don’t think PE should be required at all in High School. If they can design a course kids want, they will sign up for it. I think if they taught things like golf, tennis, swimming and other sports that people continue to do as adults then the courses would get a lot of kids signing up. If they want to run sprints and do sit-ups, then I suspect the numbers would be smaller. It doesn’t help to make kids hate exercise - it should be fun so they want to continue doing it outside of school. Colleges have fun PE courses.
I’m not sure the TV and the video games are the major reason our kids are getting heavier. It seems like all sports are getting very competitive - even at very young ages. If you’re not very good, you quit and try something else. That just about makes you done with sports by the 4th grade unless you find one you really liked. What ever happened to the groups of kids playing ball at the park and having fun. I think the answer is we took the fun out of it and made it work.
I roamed all over town when I was a kid and my parents never worried about it. Now, all you see on the news are stories about the sick people who prey on kids. I don’t let mine wander. That limits a lot of the exercise kids get, but have you ever looked at the number of people on the sex offender list in Brandon? I expected to see one or two names. Those are the ones that have been caught and convicted. I worry more about the ones that haven’t been caught.
The bottom line is it is up to the parents and the kids to make the right choices.
April 12th, 2008 at 8:45 am
True Dat 6. Doing the sit and reach, pull ups and sit ups tests is ridiculous. Who cares about those things. Get the kids active and having fun, that will carry over much further in life. How many of you hated doing pullups when you were in school? And you mentioned swimming. Man, that would have been perfect to put an indoor pool at the high school. One that the community could use, instead of that dump we have now.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:36 am
Kids have enough pressures today without all these couch coachs slamming them also. The schools are not helping by lowering the required P.E Classes either.